The present invention relates to a haymaking machine intended especially for the windrowing of fodder, comprising at least one rotary rake head driven in rotation about a substantially vertical axis and provided with a plurality of tool-carrier arms which extend outwardly from adjacent that axis and can oscillate about their longitudinal axes under the action of a control mechanism, in such manner as to cause the working tools to pivot, in a partial zone of their trajectory, upwards and in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the rotary rake head in order to favour the disengagement of the fodder from the said working tools for the formation of a windrow.
In some known machines of this kind the tool-carrier arms are mounted for pivoting in support bearings fixed on the outer edge or against the lower face of a support of frusto-conical form. This form of embodiment possesses a plurality of drawbacks among which mention may be made especially of the lack of rigidity and the great vulnerability of the control device of the tool-carrier arms. The said lack of rigidity derives essentially from the fact that the support bearings of the tool-carrier arms have no lower support, that is on the side towards the ground. Moreover, since the control mechanism of the tool-carrier arms is entirely uncovered on its lower face, it is exposed to dust, pebbles, fodder particles and other foreign bodies coming from the ground surface. These can rapidly cause fouling and deterioration of the said control mechanism of the tool-carrier arms.
In other known machines of this kind the support bearings of the tool-carrier arms are fixed on moulded casing which encloses the control mechanism of the said tool-carrier arms. These casings necessitate numerous very delicate machinings for the adaptation of the support bearings of the tool-carrier arms. This machining can be effected only at the cost of numerous manipulations involving considerable losses of time or extremely costly transfer machines.
Finally on other known machines of this kind the support bearings of the tool-carrier arms are moulded with the casings enclosing the control mechanism of the tool-carrier arms and form integral parts of the said casings. This form of embodiment presents substantially the same machining problems as the abovementioned example. Furthermore another major drawback of this form of embodiment is that when one of the support bearings of the tool-carrier arms has deteriorated, for example as a result of an impact of a tool-carrier arm against an obstacle such as a tree, it is necessary to replace the whole casing, which by its design is a very burdensome part.
The objective of the present invention is to produce a haymaking machine of the type described in the introduction which is relatively cheap and does not possess the above-mentioned drawbacks of the known machines.